Computer Science Canada

Cmo
Author:  A.J [ Mon Mar 23, 2009 9:47 am ]
Post subject:  Cmo
Ok, the 41st Canadian Math Olympiad is fast approaching. How are people preparing for it?
I am making this thread so that we can discuss the solutions after the contest itself (which is this Wednesday).

As for me, I am just looking at past papers and hoping not to get a 0 Very Happy

Here are the topics that I think will be covered in this year's CMO:
Inequalities
Number Theory
Recursion
And some others that I am not too sure about....

Oh well, any nonzero score is a good score (personally, I think that anything solving 1 - 3 questions is good....although not easy)
Author:  Foundation [ Mon Mar 23, 2009 9:50 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Cmo
The four categories of olympiads:

Geometry
Number Theory
Algebra
Combinatorics

Please remember not to say anything, this includes posting your preferences about the questions, your feelings about it, and generally anything, until at least Thursday morning, as others around the country may be writing at different times.
Author:  A.J [ Mon Mar 23, 2009 9:52 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Cmo
Thanks for the heads up. We can talk about it before the contest at least. So, how is Massey preparing, Foundation? Here, at WCI, all of us are kinda turning emo...we all are expecting a 0 (expect for Alex Song, of course). I hope to get a score higher than 10, but that's me hoping...how did you do last year?
Author:  bugzpodder [ Mon Mar 23, 2009 10:06 am ]
Post subject:  RE:Cmo
Is Massey still pwning at CMO? Actually scratch that, I don't remember anyone from Massey getting in Group I ever...
Author:  A.J [ Mon Mar 23, 2009 10:27 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Cmo
bugzpodder wrote:

Is Massey still pwning at CMO? Actually scratch that, I don't remember anyone from Massey getting in Group I ever...

Well, they aren't pwning, but they are getting good scores. We are hoping for a couple in group 2...out of the 7 that made it from our school, watch nobody (except, once again, for Alex Song) make it past the last group...but I am hoping for all of us to make it to the 2nd group...
Author:  Analysis Mode [ Mon Mar 23, 2009 10:50 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Cmo
There's Jon Schneider from UTS, who's been to the IMO for the past two years.
Author:  SJ [ Tue Mar 24, 2009 7:42 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:Cmo
hmm.. I have never heard of CMO.. I don't think my school offers it Sad
Author:  bbi5291 [ Tue Mar 24, 2009 7:53 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Cmo
SJ: It's not an open contest. The COMC is open, and a small number (I don't know it exactly, perhaps 50-100) of the highest scorers are invited to the CMO, Canadian Mathematical Olympiad, which is used to determine the Canadian IMO (International Mathematical Olympiad) team. That's why it might seem that your school doesn't offer it.

@Analysis Mode: What's your point?
Author:  A.J [ Tue Mar 24, 2009 8:01 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:Cmo
Brian, are you writing the CMO? How many from Woburn made it? Waterloo CI has 6, and Massey has 2.
Author:  bbi5291 [ Tue Mar 24, 2009 8:27 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Cmo
2 from Woburn are writing it, Hanson and I. I am not nearly as good at math as I am at CS. I suspect it's basically about practice - unlike with CS, nobody ever pushed me to my limit in math, so I didn't get enough contest practice. Hanson doesn't really prepare for math contests either. We both got in on the repechage, and I too will be glad for any nonzero score >.<

As a matter of fact, students at Woburn seem to be unique in being much better at CS than at math. I am almost scared by how good you guys are.
Author:  A.J [ Tue Mar 24, 2009 8:58 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:Cmo
Only 2 of the people who made it this year out of the 6 have actually written CMO before. I am hoping to solve 2 questions, although that won't be the case, seeing how last year's was easy (hinting that this year's will be far from easy). Good luck to you guys, I am pretty sure that you guys will do well.
Author:  SJ [ Tue Mar 24, 2009 9:14 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:Cmo
yes. good luck to you all!
this sounds so intense!
Author:  bbi5291 [ Tue Mar 24, 2009 9:16 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Cmo
A.J., you are overestimating me, much as I overestimated Jon Schneider's coding ability from his impressive results at the math olympiad, I suspect. The fact that you could call last year's CMO "easy" means that you are much better than I am. (I did read the solutions - they didn't seem THAT hard - still my record is not particularly glorious for math contests.)
Author:  A.J [ Tue Mar 24, 2009 9:44 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:Cmo
You underestimate yourself Brian. Hoxever, Jon is quite the coder, apparently.
Author:  bbi5291 [ Tue Mar 24, 2009 9:54 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Cmo
Yes, I didn't mean to call him a mediocre coder or anything of that sort. He has quite an impressive rating on TopCoder, for instance, it was higher than mine for quite a while (and who knows, that trend might have continued were it not for the fact that he hasn't been doing TC lately). The point is that he's not as good at CS as he is at math, and I'm not as good at math as I am at CS.

Do I underestimate myself? It really depends on expectations. Schneider is somewhat likely to make it to the IOI this year, in my opinion; he already has a silver at IMO. Robin Cheng came 7th in the CMO last year, so I expect him to make it to the IMO this year. If I make the assumption that I am at least as smart as they are, then I must be falling far short of expectations (my strongest subject is chemistry, which isn't intellectual enough compared to math.) However, if my only goal was to get some scholarships and be accepted to Waterloo, then I would be inclined to agree with you; clearly I would be underestimating myself in this case.
Author:  Foundation [ Wed Mar 25, 2009 11:35 am ]
Post subject:  Re: RE:Cmo
A.J @ Tue Mar 24, 2009 8:01 pm wrote:
Brian, are you writing the CMO? How many from Woburn made it? Waterloo CI has 6, and Massey has 2.


The top 50 qualify from COMC. The next 200 write the Repecharge to qualify for the other 50 spots.

Hm...since I'm in Massey, I think I would know better. We have 5 who wrote the CMO. 3 of us qualified from COMC, 2 from Repecharge. 4 of us wrote the CMO last year. Just to clarify.
Author:  A.J [ Wed Mar 25, 2009 12:56 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:Cmo
Oh, sry Peter. I forgot to count you, Frank and Ann. I only counted the people who made Repechage.
Author:  bugzpodder [ Wed Mar 25, 2009 2:34 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:Cmo
Mr. White still in charge of contests at Massey? or is he retired?
Author:  Foundation [ Wed Mar 25, 2009 3:20 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: RE:Cmo
A.J @ Wed Mar 25, 2009 12:56 pm wrote:
Oh, sry Peter. I forgot to count you, Frank and Ann. I only counted the people who made Repechage.


You mean qualified for CMO from Repechage, right? We had around 6 make Repechage. It's fine.

bugzpodder wrote:

Mr. White still in charge of contests at Massey? or is he retired?


Hey Jack, how's it going? Mr. White is still here and his programs are still running fine. Our compsci program is getting stronger and stronger now. Mr. Mac is doing a wonderful job. You probably don't know me, but you knew Andy, right?
Author:  A.J [ Thu Mar 26, 2009 9:39 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:Cmo
So, how did people do?

WCI did pretty well. How did others do?
Author:  bbi5291 [ Thu Mar 26, 2009 9:43 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Cmo
I only solved the first question. (NOW do you get how bad I am at math?)
Author:  Foundation [ Thu Mar 26, 2009 10:04 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Cmo
bbi5291 @ Thu Mar 26, 2009 9:43 pm wrote:
I only solved the first question. (NOW do you get how bad I am at math?)


It's okay, Brian. Making CMO is hard enough. Only around 100 write it. Smile
Author:  Alexmula [ Thu Mar 26, 2009 10:12 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:Cmo
how do they determine which ppl write this olympiad contest
Author:  CodeMonkey2000 [ Thu Mar 26, 2009 10:23 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:Cmo
You have to do very well in the Canadian Open math contest.
Author:  A.J [ Thu Mar 26, 2009 10:30 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Cmo
So Peter, how did you guys do?

Don't worry Brian, I thought I solved questions 1 -> 3, but when I came out of the contest, I found out that I only got #1 perfectly (i.e. The n# of 2*n grids with no stranded black squares is 2(3^n) - (2^n) or something like that, I forget). My #3 was on the right track, but wrong eventually. My #2 was not completed on the official papers, but rather my rough notes on separate blank paper Hit Wall

So, maybe 10, maybe 8, I don't know...
Author:  Foundation [ Fri Mar 27, 2009 8:29 am ]
Post subject:  Re: RE:Cmo
Alexmula wrote:

how do they determine which ppl write this olympiad contest


Your answer, already in this thread just a few posts above. Qualification for CMO:

Foundation @ Wed Mar 25, 2009 11:35 am wrote:

The top 50 qualify from COMC. The next 200 write the Repecharge to qualify for the other 50 spots.


A.J wrote:

So Peter, how did you guys do?


I think we did what we could, but it all depends on the actual difficulty of the contest this year.
Author:  Alexmula [ Fri Mar 27, 2009 12:38 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:Cmo
sry i meant what kind of score you need to have like 60+/80?

and do they do this with the euclid as well? (if you do "well" you get invited to write another contest?
Author:  Foundation [ Fri Mar 27, 2009 5:22 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: RE:Cmo
Alexmula @ Fri Mar 27, 2009 12:38 pm wrote:
sry i meant what kind of score you need to have like 60+/80?

and do they do this with the euclid as well? (if you do "well" you get invited to write another contest?


Ah. I misunderstood, it's no problem. Usually it takes above 70 to qualify straight from COMC, but these past years have been a bit easier, so it's low 70s that are needed out of 80.

Well...the CMO 2009 is already over before Euclid, so they can't invite you for that, and there are not other contests that follow up from the CEMC. Razz
Author:  A.J [ Fri Mar 27, 2009 6:41 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:Cmo
Peter, by how well did you do, I meant how many did you solve. I realise that you probably did all that you could do Very Happy
Author:  Foundation [ Sat Mar 28, 2009 12:25 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: RE:Cmo
A.J @ Fri Mar 27, 2009 6:41 pm wrote:
Peter, by how well did you do, I meant how many did you solve. I realise that you probably did all that you could do Very Happy


I would not know for how many my solution would be correct, as the official ones have not come out and official marking will be different. I answered all 5 and was unable to complete the proof for 4.
Author:  bugzpodder [ Mon Mar 30, 2009 10:25 am ]
Post subject:  Re: RE:Cmo
Foundation @ Wed Mar 25, 2009 3:20 pm wrote:

Hey Jack, how's it going? Mr. White is still here and his programs are still running fine. Our compsci program is getting stronger and stronger now. Mr. Mac is doing a wonderful job. You probably don't know me, but you knew Andy, right?


Yeah, Andy kicks my ass in contests now

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